• Collaboration with Machakos Hospital (the “Hospital”) is part of a tender contract awarded to Philips by the Central Government of Kenya, which will entail the transformation of eleven ICU departments in level 5 hospitals across the country;

• The project is testament to Philips commitment to advancing the delivery of primary, secondary and tertiary healthcare in Africa;

• Inauguration of the refurbished ICU department at the Hospital coincides with Philips’ week-long visit to Kenya as part of its sixth consecutive Cape Town to Cairo roadshow (http://www.philips.com/C2CAfrica).

Philips (AEX: PHI, NYSE: PHG) (http://www.philips.com) today unveiled an entirely refurbished Intensive Care Unit (ICU) in the Hospital (Machakos County) Kenya. This is the first of eleven ICU departments in hospitals across the country that Philips is transforming as part of a tender contract awarded to Philips by the Central Government of Kenya to support healthcare revitalization across the country.

The radical transformation of the ICU department at the Hospital has consisted of a complete overhaul of all facilities in the ICU department. Prior to this development the ICU department at the Hospital had an existing three bed ICU ward, which was very basic and not adequately equipped to care for patients. Philips has adopted an approach to the project with the Hospital known as Managed Equipment Services (MES). This approach means that Philips has taken full responsibility for the entire renovation, and has sourced and provided all required facilities, not just the technology and equipment. By adopting this ‘MES approach’, Philips has worked with external third parties to deliver all necessary solutions for a world-class ICU.

To ensure that the renovated ICU department at the Hospital meets international standards, a complete redesign was necessary. This has resulted in various civil works being initiated to create an isolation room, a sluice room, a nurse’s central desk, installation of piped medical gases from a new central oxygen plant, as well as access control to the department etc.

Philips also installed brand new high quality LED lighting in the ICU department; LED lighting enables rest and recovery, as it’s not as harsh as conventional fluorescent lighting, it requires minimal maintenance and also helps to reduce energy consumption.

Expanding the view at the bedside and beyond

Philips has installed a clinical network via the Philips IntelliVue MX series (http://www.healthcare.philips.com/main/products/patient_monitoring/products/intellivue_mx600_mx700) of bedside patient monitors, configured to simplify clinical workflow and allow easy access to relevant patient information from various hospital applications and systems. Patient monitors play a critical role in an ICU, by providing accurate, real-time physiological information that is needed to determine a patient’s status. The Philips IntelliVue MX series of monitors feature a best-in class ECG algorithm to reduce the number of false alarms, providing immediate, seamless access to clinically relevant patient information at the bedside and also at the central nurse’s station.

In addition to the monitoring solutions, Philips also provided the Hospital with Philips acute (V680) ventilators to enable therapeutic care, as well as Philips (DFM100) defibrillators to allow resuscitation of the heart. Also non Philips equipment like ICU beds, syringe pumps, pulse oximeters, infusion pumps, neonatal ventilators etc have been installed to ensure a fully functional ICU environment for various patient categories. Philips has also installed a piped medical gas plant in the unit which will support patient management by provision of oxygen eliminating the need for external supply of bottled oxygen.

To ensure that clinical staff fully utilise these state-of-the-art technologies in their new environment and that patient’s get maximum benefit from the latest therapies available, Philips will undertake application training on a regular basis as part of a continuous medical education (CME). Similarly, to support product uptime and service availability in the ICU department at the Hospital, biomedical engineers from the Hospital will also be trained on troubleshooting techniques.

Commenting on today’s announcement, Roelof Assies, General Manager, Philips East Africa Limited, said, “I’m delighted to announce the extensive development that is already well underway at the Hospital. We have worked with the Hospital to understand their needs, and to ensure that once the project is completed, the facility is fully equipped to adequately and sustainably care for patients admitted to the ICU department. The Hospital serves a wide ranging area, but prior to this refurbishment, it was unable to care for trauma patients, and so they had to be transferred to Nairobi which is at least an hour and a half away by car. This obviously could have devastating consequences for many patients, not to mention the increasing burden on the tertiary facilities in Nairobi, like Kenyatta National Hospital”.

“This initiative is part of a wider contract which will see Philips provide eleven hospitals across the country with lifesaving facilities. We will not only deliver our medical technologies and solutions to the hospitals, but we will also provide clinical training. Over the past decade, Philips has developed a model for turnkey healthcare projects in Africa; what makes this work successfully is a comprehensive project design and implementation that takes the bigger picture into consideration.”

Mr Assies concluded, “It’s not enough to simply supply and install equipment. Comprehensive project management is essential – from evaluating the infrastructure to training and maintenance. We must build capacity that enables the local clinical teams to continue their work. Our commitment to Kenya is unwavering, and we are very proud to have been selected by the Government of Kenya for this project; we will continue to strive to advance healthcare infrastructure across the country.”

Cape Town to Cairo Roadshow 2015

The announcement of the collaboration with the Hospital coincided with Philips’ weeklong stopover in Kenya, as part of its sixth consecutive pan-African Cape Town to Cairo roadshow. The annual roadshow kicked off on 11 May 2015, in Cape Town, and Nairobi is the third stop on a journey covering 12,000 km across 11 cities and 8 countries over a period of 4.5 months. The roadshow has gained significant momentum over the past five years, allowing Philips to get to the heart of some of the key issues facing Africa – including Mother and Child Care, the rise of non-communicable diseases, energy efficient LED and solar lighting solutions, as well as shining a spotlight on the need for clinical education and training.

Marc Mcilhone is AfricanBrains' Editor - sourcing news and features content and overseeing the work of the site’s contributors. Marc’s work is informed by his technical background in architecture having worked for some of the UK’s leading practices on projects within the education, healthcare and housing sectors. Marc has a particular interest in how African innovators are creating sustainable solutions that have a positive impact on people’s everyday lives.
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